


What you find in the frozen section.

by SunshineShips (twinkcastiel)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Broken Castiel, Broken Dean, Crazy Castiel, Firefighter Dean, Late at Night, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, Unhappy Dean, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 19:34:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3393680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinkcastiel/pseuds/SunshineShips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel who once had had the world at his fingertips, the girls, the boys, the money, now a shell of who he was, spends his nights wandering the local grocery stores by himself, when he meets Dean a lonely firefighter who has had his heart broken one too many times and lost far too many people. Together they try to fix themselves and each other. </p><p> </p><p>I will add tags as the story progresses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What you find in the frozen section.

 Castiel had been shuffling through the frozen section, watching his own slouched figure in the glass doors. Sometimes looking at random items he won't buy, as not to look suspicious. Currently, he was inspecting a generic bag of frozen peas, when he heard the slow squeak of a broken cart wheel creeping behind him. Setting the peas back, he gently let the door shut, not to draw unneeded attention to himself, and planned to slip into another aisle. Cas will do anything to keep the attention anywhere else, because people think him strange, wandering about grocery stores at such an ungodly hour. Something in his eyes tends to set off other people, drawing back like he sprouted horns suddenly, avoiding contact like he had a disease, not meeting his eyes as if he'd turn them to stone. And then-

Cas caught the reflection of a man comparing two frozen pies, humming to himself. Cas stuffs his hands into his sweatshirt pockets, avoiding the man's eyes completely. Even though the unforgiving fluorescents cast the man in a strange light, Cas can't help but notice the sharp jawline, and tussled sandy hair, and very very pink lips. He looked worn but still happily humming, browsing the frozens like a normal man. Cas wishes he could be normal, browsing pie selections. Castiel looks down at himself, suddenly hyperaware of his less than dazzling clothing choice. Pulling at his dirty trench coat sleeves self consciously, as he stands awkwardly comparing himself to some gorgeous stranger. Ridiculous. It's not like Cas doesn't know he's less than average. _I used to be attractive_ , Cas thinks to himself. This guy though, he's movie star handsome. It's been a long time since he's seen someone, like really _looked_ at anyone. And before he can stop himself, Cas starts to wonder about this man. It's weird yes, borderline creepy, yet he wonders about the laugh lines around his lips, and who put them there. What does he look like when he laughs? Beautiful probably, with head thrown back and eye crinkles. He wonders if the freckles spattered across his cheeks were kissed there by the sun, or if he was born with them. He's being downright creepy now, but its been a very long time since someone, or anything really, had spiked Cas' interest, so his people skills are a bit "rusty".

 _I should go_ , Cas thinks, _I should really go before_ _the man gets a restraining order or something_. So Cas starts shuffling away, his slippers whispering on the white tiles. Against his own protests, the closer Cas gets the more Cas notices. He was tall, taller than Cas, broad, and quite tan. A hint of bowleggedness shown through with his jeans that were slung low on his narrow hips. The man stops humming, and lifts his jade eyes to Cas' horrified ones. He flounders for a moment, flushing at being caught staring. _So stupid, so dumb, how could I be so stupid, I hate you I hate you I hate_ _you_ , Cas mentally screams to himself and drops his eyes sadly. He mumbles something of an apology and starts to shuffle on. Cas just wants to go home and cry. 'Home?' a voice chastised him. Oh right, he remembers, no home anymore. If he were normal, he wouldn't hear voices. If he were normal, he could start a conversation, he could go on a date. But sadly he's.. him. And now he was making a fool of himself in front of a really cute guy. Expecting the man to give him that look, of pity and terror, to drop his eyes and awkwardly wait for Cas to move on, but he doesn't. This beautiful man smiles crookedly at Cas.

"Hey man, you look lost." he comments, casually looking back down to the box in his hands. Castiel considers his answer for a long moment.

"I suppose I am." he ponders cautiously, flicking his eyes up shyly to gauge the stranger's reaction.

"You need help finding something?" the man asks, throwing the red box into his cart and focusing his gaze on Cas completely.

Shifting his weight he adds, "I think I've seen you here before."

"Yes, I often come here to look for something," he says thoughtfully, intently studying the freezers around him like he'd never seen them before in his life.

"They never seem to have it." Cas smiles shy and sad. The man looks thoughtful, licking his full lips and nodding slightly. He looks like he's going to walk away. One of those dreadful fluorescents casts an eerie shadow across Dean's face as he turns, and Cas squeezes his eyes shut, frightened. _not here_ , he begs, _I wanna be normal not here_. But then Cas realizes he's even more frightened that this man, who wasn't frightened by Cas' broken gaze, would go around that corner, and Cas would never see him again.

"I'm-I'm Castiel," he blurts loudly, the stranger looks surprised, and stops mid-step. Castiel curses himself, "My name, it's Castiel."

"Oh. I-uh I'm Dean. Nice to meet you Cas." Cas drops his eyes and smiles a little at the nickname. Neither say anything for a moment "Uh, Cas?" Dean tilts his head lower, trying to catch Cas' eyes.

"Yes, Dean?" he answers slowly, rolling the name on his tongue, trying it out. He likes it, he'd like to say it more.

"Are you... okay? You look a little..." he trails off, the rest hanging in the air ready to cut the conversation short. He's unsure of what to say to this pitiful looking man in a fucking grocery store at 3am. His nested raven hair looked like it hadn't been combed in a while, and Cas worried a chapped bottom lip between his teeth. Looking overall unkempt, malnourished, and lost. Cas looks, well, broken. Like something was missing in his eyes, like a light had been blown out. His eyes where icy, and a little intimidating but Dean had always been an overly warm person and was overall unfazed. However he expected Cas to be defensive, or offended, or something- anything really, but Cas smiles, resigned. That's what Cas was; resigned. Like he'd already given up long ago, like he's devoid of any strong emotion. Dean wonders what happened, as he looks at Cas standing uncomfortably, looking like he wants to disappear. Castiel is several inches shorter than Dean, and shrunken looking, shoulders slumped. Dean kinda wants to scoop him up and take him home. He realizes they've been standing there a few moments longer than what is natural. He also realizes Cas is wide-eyed and waiting for Dean to finish. He just shakes his head and starts to move forward, because yeah its 3am, and he's goddamn tired. His heart breaks a little as he watches Cas from the corner of his eye, and how his shoulders slump in rejection.

"Well? C'mon." he gestures 'this way' with his head. He loves the way Cas' face lights up and he shyly trots to Dean's side. He smiles hopefully at Dean and Dean vows right then and there he'd fix Cas, relight the light behind Castiel's dead eyes.

"So Cas," he moves through the aisles, "What ARE you looking for at 3am?" Cas looks.. less lost.

"I'm not sure yet." he answers unabashedly, "What are you doing here?"

" _I_ happen to be a firefighter," he grins playfully at Cas, "Work weird hours, y'know?" Cas nods seriously like he's mentally note taking.

"That's cool," he comments shyly, "Saving people.. that's really cool."

"Yeah. I like to save people who need saving.." he trails off, inwardly kicking himself. "I like your pajamas, by the way." He smiles a little at Cas, changing the subject. They seemed fitting, the little cartoon bees buzzing happily. Cas stays quiet this time, cheeks reddening. They chatter lightly throughout the barren store, shooting questions at each other like bullets in war. From basic things like, "Favorite animal?" to deep, philosophical questions like, "Who would win in a fight, Godzilla or King Kong?" Cas was opening up slowly, giggling quietly and answering more fully. A little warmth had seeped into Cas' icy iris', yet something about his eyes still freaked Dean out. Not that Dean would say anything to Cas about it, but all the same.

"Favorite color?" he asked, throwing a can of soup into the cart, and continuing on unhurriedly. So what if Dean was purposefully taking longer? No one had to know.

"Green." Cas blurted quickly. Dean could see his ears turned red under his shaggy dark hair, and he covers his face shyly with his raggedy trench coat sleeve. Dean decided that it was the cutest thing he's ever seen. Dean stops the cart in front of the spaghetti sauces, and turn to smirk at Cas' embarrassed face before he answered.

"Blue." Cas was taken aback, he had certainly not been expecting that. He pressed his chapped lips together in a tight line. He was over the moon with happiness this night, or more accurately, morning, he hadn't realized how lonely he was before this and now he was both confused and joyous. It's been such a long time since someone had asked him a question and actually wanted an answer. Cas trails off into his mind forgetting to ask another question. Dean waits patiently for Cas to come out of his mind, and takes this time to really inspect him, in all his pajama-clad glory. Dean watches as he picks at fuzz on his pants looking insecure. Someone as beautiful as Cas shouldn't ever look insecure. They stay in comfortable silence, Castiel's mind still off who-knows-where through checkout. Dean chats politely with the redhead scanning his items. He can see Cas shifting his weight, looking like he was deciding whether to run or not. His thoughts must not be pleasant. Dean found himself silently worrying about Cas, which was strange because he hadn't worried about anyone like this since- _no_ , he squashes the thought.

This was a strange situation for sure. Dean had worked a late shift at the firehouse and he was driving home when he realized there was no food in his house at all. Ready to curl up and sleep forever he drifted into the frozen section, and left it with something more than pie. A little broken-looking man, barely out of college. Dean had been shocked at the beauty and tiredness of Cas. There was something in Cas that set off Dean's protective side. The older brother in him sensed something, and his firefighter instincts told him rescue. But this weird darkness in Cas wasn't fire. It wasn't something Dean could hose down and leave, it was deeper and darker and cold. There was cold radiating off of Cas, and Dean doesn't know cold. Heat, fire, alive- he could handle alive, but this- this was new. He wasn't scared of fire, but the emptiness in Cas' eyes was like... wandering a vacant graveyard. There were traces of flowers from loved ones that stopped visiting, cracked headstones with names long forgotten and worn away, like plague hit the land and wiped it clean of everything _alive_. Icy and consuming, it terrified Dean, chilled him right down to the marrow in his bones. Because Cas wasn't a bang, he wasn't dying at the hands of a killer, not diving in front of a bullet to save the ones he loves, but rather a whimper, slowly fading and no one even noticed. Who else is going to notice if not Dean? Who else is going to care? Cas was a stranger in bumblebee pajama pants that Dean met in the frozen section not even an hour and a half ago, this was insane! Completely bonkers and the craziest part? Dean didn't even care.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading, I will for sure continue if you people want it! Please pleeeaassee tell me what you think! Don't be shy to comment!


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